The 18th ICID Early Career Track is a new congress offering focused on advancing the careers of early career infectious diseases practitioners and researchers from around the world. The track is developed by ISID's Emerging Leaders in International Infectious Diseases http://isid.org/about/emerging_leaders.shtml and is chaired by Prof. Anita Shet (cc'd) and Prof. Shui Shan Lee (Hong Kong). Sessions will span from small, interactive sessions aimed at fostering discussion and exchange to workshop based sessions and a Dragons' Den competition.

Examples of successful interventions in infection prevention and control will be discussed, emphasizing how the initiatives are supported by traditional or novel sound behavioral theories, focused either on individual or collective levels; the attention to factors favoring or hindering knowledge mobilization and implementation efforts; and which evaluation designs are put in practice to ascertain effectiveness as well as other pragmatic outputs for patients, organizations and clinicians.

“Research in Germany” is an initiative launched by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research with the aim to inform students and researchers from all over the world about the German research landscape, its funding system and the collaboration opportunities with German scientists and research organizations. As part of the Early Career Track, the initiative will promote a lunch session where representatives of the main German funding agencies will inform the attendees of the 18th ICID about grant application strategies and funding opportunities. Directly after the presentations (13:45 to 14:45), the speakers will be available for individual consultation and in-depth advice. Lunch Boxes will be offered free of charge. Participate in this free event for a successful grant application! The event will be held in English, is free of charge and includes food and beverages.

Nontraditional sources of information such as social and mass media can often alert public health officials to possible disease outbreaks faster than traditional surveillance methods. Field epidemiologists are learning how to leverage these sources for disease detection through innovative disease surveillance. Workshop participants will learn about innovative disease surveillance methods and how to use the EpiCore platform to verify outbreaks. After completion of the workshop, qualified participants will be able to enroll as EpiCore volunteers and participate in this global effort to combat emerging infectious diseases. EpiCore is a collaboration of ISID's Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases (ProMED), Ending Pandemics, TEPHINET and HealthMap.

Communicating effectively is a skill that can be developed. Whether you are speaking to a journalist, making a presentation, speaking to someone of influence or talking to your peers and colleagues, you need to communicate key messages effectively and ensure what they say is not misunderstood. Nicola Hill is an award winning journalist with over 25 years' experience in journalism and communication consultancy.

The invention of vaccines is irrefutably one of the greatest medical achievements in the past century. The worldwide implementation of vaccination has dramatically reduced the incidence of, and in some cases even eradicated some of the most devastating diseases among adults and children. Despite all these benefits, vaccines have also been one of the most hotly debated topics in public health. There are no clear answers to many ethical questions related to vaccines. Often the ideal response is highly contextual, and what works in one setting may not always work in other settings. These questions will be addressed in this interactive session in the form of case studies and input from the audience.

Dragons' Den is a competition with the goal to encourage early career researchers to move forward in their fields of interest. Finalists will pitch their projects to the audience and the Dragons (senior investigators in the field of global infectious diseases), and will answer their fiery questions. The winner will receive the 500$ PandemicTech Prize http://www.pandemictech.com. More information on how to apply to compete will be sent to registered congress attendees. More information including application link: http://www.isid.org/icid/dragonsden.shtml